Tail in a crack

A relatively easy find along side of Trail # 734.1 (Eureka Cut-off) just off Green Mountain Trail 719.

Parking at TH, then 1.7 m on improved trail (THANKS TO Thunder Mountain 4 Wheelers!)

Easily reached on foot but fastest on a ATV (which you can also use to reach it from the Surface Creek "Corral" parking area.) As long as snow cover is under 2-3' we believe the cache can be found by snowmobile, ski, or snowshoe if you use the spoiler images to locate the "hint"

We placed this cache in commemoration of two (three?) milestone events in our geocaching history:

1. Out with haubarktheold, we had just logged our 750th cache, the nearby "Green Mountain - Trail 719"

2. With this 750th find we had also logged all caches in Grand Mesa National Forest west of Leon Peak.

3. ? Slightly after the fact but already planned and expected:
The following day after setting this cache, with 6-8" of snow on the ground, we went out to log the remaining 3-4 unfound caches in the Eastern part of the National Forest but had a breakdown with our ATV 5 miles from the Trailhead (and cachemobile), were rescued by some (now new!) friends that were behind us and it took us two days to get parts and make it back up to recover the ATV. By the time we managed to get away from the job site it was after 4 p.m. when we arrived at the Trail head with a fellow friend and another ATV. A 30 minute dash had us at the rig, fixed and back on the trail just as the sun went down at 5 p.m.!

At this point we still had one cache yet to find (Close isn't Goodenough) although we did have the 2nd stage coords of this multi. Now well after dark, arriving at the intersection where we either went for the cache or back to the cachemobile, we had a decision to make! Go for a cache which had not been found in over 3 yrs!?!? and was likely to be under 12" of snow? Dark with more snow coming down and 2 miles of unbroken trail to the cache? What would ANY geocacher do! GO FOR IT! We found our last remaining cache to claim 100% of ALL caches, not only ON Grand Mesa, but WITHIN the entire Grand Mesa National Forest!**

SO . . . this cache was also set in anticipation of that event - but, to truly commemorate that event we may yet set a 5d x 5t challenge cache on top of Crater View that will require you to find at least 90% of what we did from a standing start in under 5 months of weekend only caching, including ALL (by name) of the really difficult finds . . . . we are still mulling that one over . . . . .

HAPPY CACHING! TEAM kekj

**When we set ourselves the goal of ALL caches it started with ON Grand Mesa, from near east of the hwy and westward. As we made quick work of that we then expanded to WITHIN the entire National Forest Boundary - but always with one exception due to distance, "Walk along Buzzard - GC1F0WA" - although we may pick that one up next spring?
We also DNFed one single cache out of the 80+, "Columbine is close enough - GC1VFB6" and after consultation with the CO we are convinced it is MIA but weather (and the ATV breakdown) prevented us from making a second run to determine for sure - so that one is up for debate?

p.s. Keep in mind that geomap does not show the break between Grand Mesa and Gunnison National Forest, just a solid green mass of forest land. Anything EAST of the above mentioned caches is actually a different National Forest - and a whole other set of caches to find!

Congratulations to Rojo464 for FTF

Additional Waypoints

T15J18G - Tail in a Crack parkng & Trailhead
N 39° 01.749 W 107° 55.130
Parking & Trailhead